Languages

Learn Japanese

Table of Contents

Overview of the Japanese Language

While not always the case, currently, the Japanese use three
different alphabets for wrting plus the Latin alphabet. These four
different scripts are often mixed together. In fact, it’s not uncommon
to see all of these alphabets on the same page. The three Japanese
alphabets are hiragana, katakana, and the borrowed Chinese characters
called kanji. Japanese can also be written in the Latin alphabet. This
romanization is often used by foreign speakers who haven’t mastered
hiragana, katakana, and kanji. It’s also often used when working on a
computer.

The word order of Japanese is determined by the kana, or the
pronunciation of words, rather than the symbols. Overall, there are 46
sounds in Japanese, each represented by its own katakana and hiragana.

Combinations of Alphabets

Look at any piece of Japanese writing and you’ll see mostly sentences
made up of both hiragana and kanji. Kanji, the borrowed Chinese
symbols, are used mainly for nouns, adjective stems, and verb stems.
These verb stems will have hiragana attached to them for verb tense.
Hiragana will also appear throughout the sentences as particles, words
that are, more or less, the equivalent of English prepositions (although
they do serve other purposes as well).

You may see katakana used on the page as well. Katakana is generally
only used for loan words, or words that have been introduced to Japan
from outside languages. Brand names like “McDonalds,” foreign foods
like “taco,” and foreign terms like “déjà vu” will be written in
katakana.

Besides these uses, you’ll also see kanji used for names, hiragana
used for Japanese words that don’t have an associated kanji, and
katakana for onomatopoeias, words whose kanji aren’t often used, and for
scientific terms. Also, you may see small hiragana written over a
kanji. These hiragana, called furigana, are used to indicate how to
read and pronounce the kanji. Many kanji have different meanings and
pronunciations depending on context, so furigana are often necessary to
avoid confusion.

The Latin alphabet is used only for acronyms, the use of Japanese
names and words meant to be read by non-Japanese speakers, and
company/product names. There are exceptions to all of these rules, of
course, and sometimes Japanese writers will use hiragana or katakana
instead of kanji to call attention to a word, to prevent any confusion,
or simply because they prefer it over the kanji.

Text Direction

Japanese is traditionally written vertically and from right to left.
However, typed or computer-printed Japanese is usually done
horizontally since it’s easier for printers and computer programs to
work horizontally.

History

The modern Japanese writing system has its beginnings in the fourth
century. It was around this time that written Chinese, the kanji
characters, appeared in Japan. Before this, there was no true native
Japanese writing system—there were some scrapes of records, but nothing
definitive. Most were pictographs found on cave walls or on various
primitive forms of pottery.

While the Japanese aristocracy originally learned kanji to read
Chinese, over the years, a form of writing called kanbun developed.
Kanbun was loosely based on Chinese grammar, but it involved some
special marks to indicate the Japanese meaning of some kanji. The
Kojiki, the earliest history of Japan, was written using kanbun.

However, it wasn’t until sometime around 750 AD that a true form of
Japanese writing emerged. The man’yugana made use of kanji, but only
the phonetic aspects of them, not their actual meaning. Man’yugana was
used to write poetry originally. Over time, Man’yugana actually
branched off into two different systems. The two systems would evolve
into the hiragana and katakana alphabets over time.

Many words from China had no Japanese equivalent, so these words
entered Japanese with little change. However, some kanji and Japanese
words meant the same thing or concept. When this occurred, the kanji
ended up with two readings, the on-yomi and kun-yomi reading. The
reading depends on the word and the context it’s used in.

Language Reforms

The first major language reform can in the Meiji era during the
nineteenth century. Thanks to a number of education reforms, literacy
was quickly growing among the Japanese. At the same time, many new
words were entering the language. Because of the increased literacy
rate, many of the new words were written in colloquial styles instead of
the classical style that the aristocracy and courts often used.

Because many of the lower class were just learning kanji during this
time, one of the most debated issues was the complexity of written
Japanese. With thousands of kanji to learn just to be able to read
basic books, many thought kanji use should be limited.